


Never Brusque Again

by muldersboyishenthousiasm



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 17:24:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15124301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muldersboyishenthousiasm/pseuds/muldersboyishenthousiasm
Summary: From a tumblr prompt





	Never Brusque Again

He had invited to watch a movie at hus place, but said movie had soon been discarded.

“Mulder, stop thinking about this. It’s over now. Case closed,” she spat brusquely out at him.

His normally quiet hazel eyes were looking at her as if alit with fire in them. He was standing over her where she had took place on his couch. His gangly body curved over her, he had ceased his pacing after for the umpteenth time rummaging his thoughts about the Paper Hearts case.

They never were able to determine for sure that his sister had not been taken and then killed by the bastards.

Since the case, Scully had kept an even closer eye on her partner, worried for his well-being. He seemed more aloof and distant than ever. He was always lost in his thoughts as if intent on reliving what happened in the 80’s.

Scully tried not to loose eye contact with him but he avoided her gaze. She put a hand on his forearm and forced him to sit next to her on the leather couch. He reluctantly accepted but kept away from her. She looked hurt for half a second before deciding to let it slip.

“Mulder, the case is closed. The man wasn’t of any help. You have to try and forget this,” she declared.

“I won’t ever be able to be as detached as you want me to be, Scully,” he replied icily. “I want to find the truth about Samantha and I curse myself for not having reacted back then. I should have seen something. I should have…”

Scully couldn’t take it anymore. He had been saying the same thing over and over for the past two hours. She had listened to him, had been compassionate about it but now to was just too much to bear.

She shot out of the space from where she sat and was now the one looming over him. In her annoyance she didn’t notice him recoiling in his seat on the couch. She stepped towards him and bent over to be face to face with him.

Hands on hips, she frowned and let out what she hoped would shake him up a bit.

“For God’s sake, pull yourself together, Mulder. Stop dwelling in the past. It only serves to reopen your old wounds and you won’t be able to heal if you keep doing this to you. Get yourself together!”

She accentuated the last sentence with a snarl and made her hand connect with the armchair on which he was leaning on.

With that speech, she had intended to straigthen him up a bit. But never in the world could she have expected the reaction she witnessed.

When her fist slapped on the leather couch, her partner raised his arms to protect himself from her. His beautiful eyes were now those of a little boy, afraid to be once again on the receiving end of his father’s strap. Terrified eyes that could claim to have seen way more than what a child should endure.

Scully’s anger was drained by the sight of her strong partner turned so vulnerable. His haunted face cracked her façade. She sinked to the floor in front of him and delicately put a hand on his knee.

She felt his muscles tense under the khaki pants and she saw the stiffness of his arms when she attempted to unwrap them from his face.

She heard the tremors in her voice when she soothingly coaxed him to look at her.

“Mulder?” she murmured. “Muld… Please.”

He peaked at her from behind his fingers and accepted to let his hands fall to his sides. She slowly raised to to sit next to him and they remained unmoving for the next minute.

No sound, no movement from either partner. When she sensed he was ready, she put a hand on his shoulder and invited him to lay his head in her lap.

He reluctantly did so and once he was settled comfortably, she traced the lines of his face with her fingers. She wove her hands through the silky strands of his hair and listened to his sharp breathing. She felt the warm and wet air exit his mouth on her knees.

She snuggled him further. He brought his legs to his chest and wrapped his arms around his bent knees. It was his way of comforting himself, feeling safe. Had she not been holding him he would probably have started rocking himself back and forth and a protection mechanism. Just like when he was 12 years old.

After nearly ten minutes of heavy silence, she interrupted her soothing caresses on his head.

“I’m sorry, Mulder.”

He stilled for a second and she thought he might refuse her apology. But then he let out a puff of air and shifted in her lap to look in her eyes. She saw the red marks on his pale cheeks and wanted to wipe them away. But she thought it would distract him from what he was about to say.

“I know it’s not easy for you to see me so engrossed in searching for the truth, for what happened. But I can’t help it. I will always have doubts but I will try not to blame it on myself.” He paused and then continued. “I mean, what happened that night.”

“You were just a kid,” she responded. And sometimes I still see that little boy, she wanted to add.

“I know. But…” his voice broke and the few tears that remained in the corner of his eyes rolled down his face and melt in the fabric of her jeans.

She brought a finger under his chin and made it so that hazel orbs were looking in blue ones.

“I will never, ever, raise my voice at you again. And I will never act brusque around you if I can help it,” she promised him.

He nodded and unwrapped his arms from around his legs before placing them to fit around her delicate waist.

She returned to her stroking of his hair and he offered her a quiet smile. Scully decided to remain on the couch, her partner curved around her like a trusting child.

They both fell alseep until morning came the next day.

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt was: 
> 
> Mulder and Scully once had a really bad fight for whatever reason when she made a sudden movement out of exasperation.
> 
> Taken off by surprise, Mulder’s reaction was to raise his arms as if to protect himself from the upcoming blows.
> 
> Scully realised his reaction was similar to the one he adopted when his father used to beat him up after Samantha was abducted.
> 
> They never fought again.


End file.
